Quilt show returns to Powers Museum

The Maple Leaf Festival Quilt Show is returning to the Powers Museum after several years' absence.

Staff Reports

The Maple Leaf Festival Quilt Show is returning to the Powers Museum after several years' absence.

The display will open Oct. 7 and continue through Oct. 30, open Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Sunday 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Extended hours will be observed during the latter part of Maple Leaf Festival Week October 18-20.

Also planned is a special Columbus Day (Monday, Oct. 8) holiday opening from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission is free but donations will be accepted. The Powers Museum is located at 1617 W. Oak St. in Carthage, across from Municipal Park on the old Route 66.

This year's quilt exhibit's theme is "Stories of History, Art & Politics," and will feature museum collection quilts and historic quilts made before 1950 from private families in the Ozarks.

The selected quilts all have stories about their makers or why they were created that relate to the theme. The theme was taken from a Kentucky Quilt Project, Inc., documentary "Why Quilts Matter: History, Art & Politics in Quilts," that will be available for viewing in installments during the run of the show.

A unique feature of the show will be three Powers Museum quilts that will be displayed on the actual beds they were used on in the Powers family home at 314 Euclid Blvd. in Carthage. This has been the first time the quilts have been been displayed in this manner since the museum opened. Other pieces from the two bedroom furniture suites, painted by local artist Ida Marie Chubb, circa 1930, will also be on display as part of the quilt show.

The Powers Museum is being assisted with this show by volunteer Lori East who will be performing quilt appraisals by appointment on Oct. 21, 27 & 28. Mrs. East is an American Quilter's Society certified quilt appraiser and former board member of the American Quilt Study Group.

According to East, she will "appraise new or antique quilts, antique quilt tops, and even blocks." Full written appraisals are $40 per piece, and will require 30 minutes each. Verbal evaluations, to learn what you have (approximate dating and pattern identification), may also be done for $20 per 15-minute appointment.

East was also a participant in Mary Kerr's Vintage Revisited quilt block challenge project and traveling exhibit created in 2007 and she will present a free program on the block challenge during the Carthage Historic Downtown Art Walk event Friday Oct. 12 at the Powers Museum at 7:30 p.m.

Then on Saturday Oct. 13, a day-long workshop inspired by the 2007 experience will be presented at the museum.

East asks: "Do you have a stack of Grandma's old quilt blocks and don't know what to do with them? What about that box of handkerchiefs? Doilies on the dresser? Then you are invited you to come with sewing machine ready, to make a small quilt with pre-chosen selection of vintage materials. Participants will leave with a new understanding of what to do with those family treasures. Workshop moves quickly and requires you to let go of the rules, and just create."

The workshop instruction fee is $40 plus $20 kit available on workshop day. Reservations for quilt appraisals, evaluations and workshop must be made in advance by calling the Powers Museum 417-237-0456 or emailing powersmuseum@att.net. Deadline for workshop reservations only is Oct. 1. (Museum will have further instructions and supply list available with registration information on its website.)

Other educational programs on quilts and other historic textiles will be presented throughout the run of the quilt show. For example, a free gallery talk and program will be presented on Oct. 14 at 3 p.m. on the museum's oldest textile it holds in its collection, a 1816 woven and embroidered bed covering donated by the Birkhead family. The program will be presented by East who has been researching this artifact and its journey to Missouri from Virginia for several years. Other programs can be found at the Powers Museum website (www.powersmuseum.com) under the Maple Leaf Quilt Show link.